


Fight and Flight

by Paige_Turner36



Series: Rumbelle Reunions AU [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Escape, F/M, Gen, Imprisonment, Rescue, Reunions, Romance, The Dark Castle (Once Upon a Time), The Dark Palace (Once Upon a Time), The Enchanted Forest (Once Upon a Time), True Love, season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24439108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paige_Turner36/pseuds/Paige_Turner36
Summary: Belle rescues herself with the help of the Huntsman. Only one more obstacle stands between her and reuniting with her true love.
Relationships: Belle & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Series: Rumbelle Reunions AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059635
Comments: 14
Kudos: 51





	Fight and Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT or any of the images used. This is for fun and not for profit.

Belle lay on her prison cell bed, massaging her stomach – punishment for her latest failed escape attempt.

She had tried to pretend she was dying; groaning loudly to get the attention of the guard and telling him that the Evil Queen wounded her when she’d thrown her back into her cell after another interrogation. The guard had entered to see what was wrong and Belle had tried and failed to take his keys to remove her shackles. This had earned her a punch to the abdomen to join the welts on her wrists and the bruise on her cheek from when her would-be pirate rescuer had struck her when he realised their interest weren’t aligned.

That was two days ago and her stomach still hurt. Though not as much as her heart at being separated another day from her true love.

‘I’m coming back, Rumple,’ Belle promised aloud. ‘I will come back to you.’

She heard the jingle of keys and her cell door opening as two guards arrived.

‘It’ll be hard to do that without your head,’ said one of the black knights. ‘Get up. The Queen is looking forward to your execution.’

The two guards unlocked the chains that prevented her from moving more than a foot away from the bed, re-shackled her, hauled her to her feet and marched her out of the cell and into the hallway. Whatever had happened, maybe as a result of her continued attempts to escape or because the Evil Queen had gotten bored of her little chess piece, Belle had expended her usefulness.

She needed to get out of here. And she needed to get out _now_.

As they walked, Belle stumbled and slumped to the ground.

‘Get up, wench!’ barked a guard, pulling roughly at her arm. ‘Do you hear? On your feet.’

Belle got up and kicked the guard in the groin. The second grabbed her from behind, but Belle lifted her legs and used her feet to pushed herself off the first guard’s stomach, sending the guard holding her crashing into the wall. She elbowed him in the face, knocking him out. The first guard drew his sword. Belle seized his arm and twisted it behind his back, causing him to cry out in pain. She then wrapped the chains of her shackles around his neck, half choking him as she dragged him over to the wall and smashed his helmeted head against it and he dropped unconscious like his fellow.

After incapacitating them, Belle removed her chains from around his neck and fled down the corridor. Rounding the corner she encountered another black knight who was armed with a bow and arrow. He raised ready to fire. Belle tried to run back the way she had come but another guard had arrived blocking her escape.

She was trapped.

‘Shoot her!’

The black knight archer let loose his arrow, but instead of killing Belle, the arrow shot inches passed her left ear and hit the other guard in the heart, killing him instantly. Belle was shocked and suspicious. The archer didn’t miss, that was deliberate. She turned to the black knight who had spared her life.

‘Who the hell are you?’ she demanded.

The black knight removed his helmet, revealing himself to be the Huntsman.

‘A friend,’ he told her. He strode towards her, shouldering his bow and producing a ring of keys. ‘I don’t know you. But I know Rumplestiltskin.’

Belle’s heart missed a beat at the sound of the name. ‘Is he okay?’

The Huntsman unlocked Belle’s shackles.

‘From what I hear, news of you “loss” has left him devastated. His soul is in a precarious place. You must hurry and return to him before it’s too late. Follow me. I can get you out. I’ll try and stall the Queen. The rest is up to you.’

He led her further down the corridor towards the front doors. He stooped to pick up something hiding in a corner and handed Belle her dagger and some supplies.

‘Your weapon and some provisions. And wear this.’ The Huntsman handed her a bracelet. ‘It’ll shield you from the Queen’s mirrors. Good luck.’

Belle made to leave but the Huntsman made no move to follow her, as if his feet were glued to the floor

‘You’re not coming with me?’ said Belle in surprise.

The Huntsman shook his head gravely. ‘I cannot. I gave up my heart so that the Queen would spare Snow White’s. If I disobey or try to run away she will crush it, if she doesn’t command me to do something heinous first.’

‘I can help you get it back –’

‘No,’ said the Huntsman firmly. ‘You can help me by getting as far away from here as you can. Don’t let Rumplestiltskin’s heart remain in a cage too. Find him.’

Belle didn’t like leaving the Huntsman in this place, but she had no choice. She nodded her thanks and hurried away.

The Evil Queen paced in a rage in her chambers of the Dark Palace. Her guards had one job; bring the prisoner to her for execution, kill her if she attempted to escape. How difficult was that? She was one little woman with no weapons and no magic against a palace full of guards.

The Huntsman arrived empty handed.

‘Where is she?’ the Evil Queen demanded. ‘The prisoner!’

‘Escaped,’ said the Huntsman regretfully.

Enraged, the Evil Queen blasted the Huntsman against the wall with her magic, pinning him there. She walked toward him like she wanted to rip his heart out all over again.

‘A palace full of guards, and you let her escape?’

‘I did my best,’ the Huntsman pleaded, fighting fruitlessly against her magic.

‘You failed! And do you know what happens to people who fail me, Huntsman?’

‘I’ll find her. You needn’t worry. Leave her to me.’

The Evil Queen, however, consulted her mirror. She would deal with this herself. She would find Rumple’s little beauty and when she was done she wouldn’t look so beautiful anymore. But no image of the fleeing maid appeared in her mirror.

‘Where is she?’ the Evil Queen muttered. ‘Show me… _Show me_!’

The face of her Magic Mirror appeared.

‘I – I cannot, Your Majesty,’ he informed her. ‘She is protected somehow. Something’s shield her against me.’

Impossible. Nothing could hide her from her gaze except powerful magic. Unless… The Evil Queen strode over to her dressing table and opened a drawer, expecting to see the bracelet she had once swiped from Rumplestiltskin’s castle and found it was gone. Only one other person knew she had.

The Evil Queen turned to face her disloyal Huntsman.

‘You help my enemies and now you steal from me? I hope the women in your lonely life are worth it, Huntsman.’

She advances on him…

*

The Dark Castle and the lands that surrounded it were covered in snow. One minute Belle was walking through the luscious green forest on a hot summer’s day, next minute she was traipsing through snow flecked, leafless trees of the Black Forest in an eternal winter. She was grateful for the cloak the Huntsman had given her but she wished he had given her shoes for her bare feet, which were no doubt blue by now as she trudged through the snow.

Was this Rumple’s idea of keeping people away? Or was this in response to his grief, his belief she was dead freezing his heart?

Belle pushed on. Then she heard the spine-chilling sound of a wolf howling, followed by numerous howls as the pack responded to their Alpha. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the Eurasian wolves with their blazing yellow eyes, stalking slowly towards her. Normally Belle would’ve followed the advice in her books to not scarper from predators that liked to kill on the run but to shout, throw stones and back slowly away. However, with six very hungry wolves already thirsty for her blood Belle didn’t have much choice.

Belle ran for it and the wolves gave chase. She weaved in and out of trees trying every evasive maneuver she could think of, oblivious to her cold, bleeding feet. If she could just reach the castle gates she would be safe, maybe she’d be close enough for Rumple to hear her summons.

But would he answer her? He believed she was dead. Worse, he believed she didn’t love him.

She could hear the wolves racing through the undergrowth. They were gaining ground, and fast. One wolf jumped out in front of her, snapping and snarling, its mouthing watering. Belle screamed as it lunged at her, its front paws hitting her on the chest and knocking her to the ground. But its leap had carried it too far and it rolled off her.

The wolves surrounded her.

Two of them tugged at her cloak, tearing the fabric with their teeth. Belle drew her dagger and managed to swipe the Alpha wolf across the face. But that only made it angry. With a swipe of its enormous paw the dagger was knocked out of her hand.

Throwing caution to the wind, Belle called as loudly as she could, ‘ _Rumplestiltskin_!’

If she’d thought the wolves would go cowed at the sound of the Dark One’s name, she was wrong. The wolves’ hot breath filled her nostrils.

Then as one wolf dived as her, teeth bared, it was caught in mid-air by a pair of scaly gold-flecked, black nailed claws. Rumplestiltskin lifted the wolf into his furious face and let out a deep, earthshattering, animalist roar like a great Scottish lion. The wolf pack backed off at his sudden appearance and his formidably roar, clearly unsure if their succulent meal was worth going after anymore, but Belle could only stare up at Rumple in awe.

_He came. She called for him and he came._

Rumple threw the wolf bodily from him. A long wavy knife appeared in his hands, and he took a defensive stance in front of Belle. The wolf he had thrown was quite wisely keeping its distance. But its fellows, believing they still had the advantage on numbers, attacked. Rumple blasted them back with his magic, swiped at them with his dagger, not allowing them anywhere near his Belle.

The Alpha wolf leapt out of nowhere and clamped its jaw around Rumple’s right arm. Rumple yelled in pain. There was a flash of silver and a pitiful yelp and the Alpha wolf dropped to the ground dead, bleeding from its side. Rumple straightened up, tall and impressive and turned to the rest of the pack, holding his blood soaked dagger in his clawed hand. The wolves, who had hung back during the fight between the beast and their Alpha leader, whimpered in fear, turned tail and ran; Rumple sending them on their way with a swift kick to the tail of the straggler.

The wolves were gone.

Breathing heavily, Rumple now turned to look at Belle. There was a small pool of blood forming in the snow below his right forearm. But Rumple was oblivious to the pain. He was staring at Belle as though she was a ghost. Belle struggled to her feet, shivering from cold and adrenaline. Rumple approached her slowly. He reached out his hand and gently grasped her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

‘You’re real…’ he whispered, relaxing his grip, but not daring to remove it less she vanished. His wide reptilian eyes searched her face hungrily, as if he would never be able to look at her enough. ‘You’re alive…’

Belle nodded timidly.

‘You came back…’

Belle smiled. ‘I came home.’

Rumple’s eyes filled with tears on the word ‘home’, and a hopeful smile pulled at his mouth, that faded almost immediately as he felt Belle shiver under his hand, her torn cloak no longer protecting her from the elements.

‘You’re freezing!’

Rumple whipped off his cloak and wrapped it around Belle’s shoulders. Then it finally seemed to register with him that she was dressed in nothing but a thin blue dress that exposed her bare legs and the absence of shoes.

Red smoke engulfed them and when it cleared they were in the great hall of the Dark Castle. A roaring fire ignited in the grate and Belle felt the warmth wrap around her like a thick cozy blanket. Rumple settled her in an armchair by the fire. Then he conjured a bowl of warm water and added a dash of this and that from his potion kit. He set the bowl at her frozen, blistered feet and Belle dipped her feet into it. It burned for a second, but after that… Ah, the relief. The water soothed and warmed her cold toes, healing the broken skin.

Rumple crouched in front of her and applied the same healing salve to her wrists, tenderly dabbing them and when he was finished the redness had diminished somewhat. He didn’t ask how she had got these marks, though from the deep frown Belle knew he wanted very much to know. His sole focus was right now was taking care of Belle.

Belle blushed when her stomach gave an embarrassingly loud growl. As though the rumble was a signal, Rumple asked, ‘Belle, I need to know what they fed you and how long it’s been since you had anything substantial to eat.’

Belle hesitated briefly, finding to her surprise that she wasn’t sure when she had last eaten a full meal. Once she had been captured by the Evil Queen, she was lucky if she got a crust of bread and watery gruel. She hadn’t eaten any of the food the Huntsman had given her because she had been too focused on getting away. It shocked her to realize that she hadn’t actually had a full meal since she had left the castle.

Her silence confirmed Rumple’s suspicions. ‘Not for a while I’m guessing?’

Belle nodded. ‘It was mostly bread, sometimes gruel,’ she told him.

Rumple stood up. ‘I’ll be back – I’ve found that food prepared by hand is far superior to food fetched by magic.’

Rumple poofed down to the kitchens. Beyond the windows Belle heard the howl of the wolves and pulled Rumple’s cloak tightly around herself, reminding herself that they couldn’t get into the castle. She closed her eyes and concentrated on Rumple’s smell clinging to the fur lining of the cloak, listening to the crackle of the flames, the feel of the warm water around her feet.

‘Belle?’

Belle hadn’t realised she had fallen asleep until she heard Rumple’s soft voice and jerked awake to see his anxious eyes gazing back at her. The tension in her body left at the sight of him and she relaxed, reaching out a hand to cup his weathered cheek. ‘I was afraid I’d wake up and this all would’ve been a dream,’ she murmured. ‘I thought I’d wake up and be… back there again.’

Rumple stroked her hair. ‘You will never go back there again, Belle,’ he assured her. ‘Not while I’m here.’

He reached for the bowl of food he’d prepared beside him, which he had set on a little table.

‘I know oatmeal isn’t much different from your meals there, but I don’t want to make you sick,’ Rumple explained as he handed her the small bowl filled to the brim with oatmeal, a hint of an apology, as though he had wanted to give her something more substantial.

But Belle’s mouth watered as the warm smell reached her nose, and she found herself fighting not to shovel it into her mouth. Once her bowl was cleared, Belle looked up and saw that Rumple was tending to the wounds the Alpha wolf had inflicted on his forearm. But far from applying healing ointments or even a needle and thread, Rumple was licking his wounds the same way a dog would, like he had forgotten he was human.

‘Can’t you heal them by magic?’ Belle asked. She found it hard not to let her imagination wonder as she tracked the motions of his pink tongue.

Rumple ceased his ministrations, faintly embarrassed at being caught acting like an animal. ‘These are cursed wounds.’

‘You won’t turn into a werewolf or…?’

Rumple chuckled. ‘What, more of a beast than I already am? Fret not, Belle, ‘tis merely a flesh wound.’

‘Well, you still shouldn’t be doing that.’

Belle stepped out of bowl on the floor, which had not lost any heat in all the time her feet were amerced. And as she watched the traces of scarlet within the liquid disappeared, looking fresh once more. Belle took a cloth, soaking it in the solution and twisted it to squeeze out the excess water. She then shuffled over to Rumple, who pulled his arm away instinctively.

‘It needs to be cleaned properly,’ said Belle softly.

It did nothing to encourage Rumple to comply, as he eyed the soaked cloth as if she were wielding a pot poker, moving his injured away every time Belle tried to apply it. It might have looked funny if she wasn’t worried about Rumple’s wound becoming infected.

‘Just… hold… still…’

She finally managed to press the cloth to his wound, causing Rumple to scream in pain.

‘That _hurts_!’ said Rumple reproachfully.

‘If you hold still it wouldn’t hurt as much,’ said Belle sternly.

‘You know, given that I stopped you from being wolf doo-doo, I think I’ve earned the right to apply my ministrations anyway I want!’

‘Do you have any idea how childish you sound?’

Rumple humphed, folded his arms, turning away and Belle imitated him. They stayed that way in huffy silence for a while, until Rumple muttered, ‘You are not my mother.’

‘And you are not my child,’ Belle reciprocated. She took Rumple’s arm and moved the cloth closer. ‘Now hold still. This might sting a little.’

Rumple gave a surprised grunt, then gritted his teeth as the cloth was applied.

‘By the way…’ said Belle tenderly to him, ‘thank you… for saving my life.’

Rumple opened his eyes, looking surprised. ‘You’re welcome,’ he said, also very tenderly.

‘I wasn’t sure you’d answer my call,’ Belle admitted as she finished bandaging his arm. ‘Given… given how we left things…’

Rumple covered her hand which was resting on his bandaged arm with his own. ‘I will _always_ come when you call, Belle,’ he reassured her. ‘I… didn’t think you’d _want_ to see me. I was a coward.’

‘We both were,’ said Belle.

‘I shouldn’t have lost my temper.’

‘And I should have stayed instead of walking out.’

‘I shouldn’t have accused you of working with Regina.’

‘I shouldn’t have let to her fill my heads with flights of fancy.’

‘I should have believed you…’

‘Why didn’t you?’ Belle asked gently.

Rumple didn’t answer. Deciding not to push him away by pressing this sensitive issue right now, Belle made to get up, but Rumple gripped her hand, not wanting her to leave. He gently pulled her down to sit with him in his armchair.

‘My darling Belle,’ said Rumple softly, after a few moments of comfortable silence. Belle, who had been resting her head on his shoulder, looked up at him. Rumple looked anxious, and asked hesitantly, ‘Please will you tell me what happened you?’

Belle sighed. ‘I was abducted.’

‘Regina…’ said Rumple darkly.

Belle nodded sadly. ‘I was on my way back to you when she ambushed me on the road. She locked me away in her palace. If it weren’t for the Huntsman I never would have escaped with my life.’

‘All these years...’ said Rumple, feeling all the lost time they could’ve spent together flashed passed him in the blink of an eye. All because of _Regina_. ‘She’s crossed a line,’ he growled.

‘Rumple –’ Belle began, but Rumple didn’t hear her.

‘I warned her not to test me. What she did to you, to me, is unforgivable. Wanting to be more powerful than me is one thing, but destroying our chance at happiness because she can’t have hers? Now she’ll feel the full extent of my wrath!’

‘No…’ Belle shook her head, desperately. ‘ _No_.’

‘I cannot let this stand, Belle. I will not let this stand!’ Rumple insisted, his voice rising in his upset and anger.

Belle seized his hands in both of her own. ‘Please. I know what Regina did, and I hate her for what she took from us, but I cannot allow you to seek vengeance in my name.’

‘Why not? If Regina had slaughtered your entire village and then burnt it to the ground, would you be thinking “turn the other cheek”? No, you’d want justice for your people!’

‘It’s dangerous to confuse vengeance with justice. So I suggest you find another way to channel your anger.’

Rumple deflated a little, some of his anger ebbing away. ‘Or we can’t be together…’ he said sadly.

He thought she was giving him an ultimatum, holding their relationship over his head. Either Rumple does what she says or she’ll leave and never come back. Belle didn’t want things to be like that. This should be a relationship of equals; built on love, trust and respect. Rumple should do the right thing because he wanted to, not because it was the only way to continue being a part of her life. And not just for her sake but for his own.

She knew Rumple was a good man, with a gentle soul and a pure heart beneath the mask of a beast that the world saw. But she also knew he was wracked with self-doubt and that this curse, his power, was the one thing he turned to when he was afraid or threatened and his means of protecting himself and others. The trouble was the curse had a way of poisoning Rumple’s love and fear, making him believe he was protecting them, when in reality it was eating away more at the little humanity Rumple had managed to cling on during all those centuries as the Dark One.

‘Or you’ll become the thing you hate,’ said Belle quietly. ‘Rumple, if you give in to your hate, to the darkness, I’ll lose you. But worse than that… you’ll lose yourself. You’ll be lost like your son.’

Rumple blinked rapidly, hit by a double whammy of clear crystalizing realisation, the brightest of which being the mention of his son. Nothing was stronger than a father’s love.

‘Someone does need to make Regina pay for everything she’s done… just not you. Don’t let her take you away from me. I don’t want to you, Rumple.’

Belle’s voice shook on the last sentence. Rumple brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed them. ‘You’ll never lose me, Belle,’ said Rumple soulfully. ‘I promise.’

Belle smiled gratefully.

‘Though, I do intend to pay a visit to the Dark Palace.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, the Huntsman gave me back my heart. ‘Tis only fitting I return the favour. Regina took away someone I love; now I’m going to take away someone she loves… in her own twisted way.’

Belle’s heart rose. Rumple was going to give the Huntsman his heart back as a thank you for helping her escape. The Huntsman freed Belle from the Evil Queen’s clutches, now Rumple would do the same for him.

‘Now…’ said Rumple as they settled down again in his armchair, ‘I do believe I promised you a story.’

‘About your son,’ said Belle, looking keener than ever to hear his tale.

Rumple smiled wistfully. ‘Baelfire is his name…’


End file.
